A Times-News Blog

From the Editor's desk

Twice last week I was asked about our next Community Connections forum with Elon University. That has to make me smile. After all, the Times-News began its partnership with Elon four years ago in the hopes of weaving the fabrics of the campus and Alamance County community together for discussions about the important issues we face as a community, state and nation. And Elon had hoped to also draw people to campus who don’t usually go there. So the idea… Read More »

The headline asks a good question: What, indeed, is next for Community Connections? Well, to quote old Doc Brown, the mad but lovable small town scientist who traveled in time with Marty McFly in a now famous 1985 movie, we go “back to the future!” Last year we produced one our strongest seasons of Community Connections, the series of public forums provided through a joint effort of Elon University and the Times-News. Our third year we tinkered with the format by… Read More »

In many ways, this has been the most successful year yet for our Community Connections partnership with Elon University. The forums, developed three years ago to bring the campus and Alamance County communitites together to discuss issues of local and national importance, moved forward in a few significant ways in 2015-16. First and foremost, we established a theme for the entire academic year and pretty much stuck to it. We decided in the summer to build all of our forums… Read More »

‘I think that someone needs to come in and open their eyes a little bit. You know? Maybe go and interview families and say, ‘These are people on welfare. This is what this is about.’ And put the good and the bad in there. Yes, there are some people that are taking advantage of the system, but it’s not everybody.’ — Andrew, aid recipient, Alamance County The first thing I learned Wednesday is I was joining a project that… Read More »

Sometimes the wise decision can still be a disappointing one. That’s how I think we all feel today after deciding to delay our next Community Connections forum with Elon University, which was set for next week. It’s the first time in the program’s three-year history we’ve been forced to cancel or delay one of our forums, which combine both the campus and Alamance County communities for discussion about important social or political issues in the news. But there was just… Read More »

I took and earlier blog post and turned it into a print column on Sunday. Here’s the result. — This is a Leonard Pitts story, but don’t let that derail reading any further. I know about 50 percent will want to stop immediately, but really hang with me a second. This is something everyone can probably relate to. I know I did and my spouse really did. Pitts, the Pulitzer Prize-winning and often controversial columnist for the Miami Herald who… Read More »

Leonard Pitts Jr. struck a lot of chords Thursday night at Elon University. Appropriate for a newspaper writer who got his start as a music critic. But Thursday, he was every bit the widely acclaimed Pulitzer-prize winning social and political columnist who has made a career writing about racial issues for the Miami Herald. Addressing the complicated subject of Race in America — an emerging theme this year at Elon and an unintentional link to the Community Connections forums on… Read More »

I left Elon University tonight with a lot of energy — and maybe something a little more. Optimism? Enthusiasm? Could be a little of both. Maybe even some hope, too. Earlier tonight we held the first Community Connections forum for the 2015-16 school year. The evening began our third season of group discussions in partnership with Elon where we talk about the defining local, state and national events of our time. This year we planned an ambitious agenda — refraining… Read More »